Sword Art Online - Alternate World
by reyreyspeak
Summary: In this version of Sword Art Online, Asuna and Kirito never logged in that day. Here we follow a group of highschoolers and the friends they make in game through there journey through the death game, Sword Art Online. *rated T for Language
1. Prologue

_The school bell had finally rung. _At long last the day was over. I'm not sure I've ever wanted school to end so badly. As I grabbed my things and left the class room, I ran into a few of my friends.

"Hey, you guys ready?!" I said enthusiastically as I ran up to a group of my friends. We had all reserved a copy of the new game coming out today, Sword Art Online, or SAO for short. It was supposed to be amazing, and the beta testers only had good things to say about it. We all couldn't wait, as I doubt I was the only one who found it difficult to pay attention to today's classes.

"Like hell I am!" Replied my friend Asiel. As we left the school building and began our walk home, we continued to chat about SAO. "So Mahlik, you think you're ganna be able to keep up with us?" Asked my friend Jayson. "Pfft easily. I'd be surprised if I wasn't twice you guys levels in a week!" We all laughed at Mahlik's comment, knowing that between the hardcore gamers of Jayson, Asiel and I, he was by far the worst player in any of the games we'd played together so far. We continued to make small talk on the way home, but all of us just wanted to get home and put on the Nerve Gear as fast as possible. As we waved our goodbye's to Jayson and Mahlik, who took a different road to get back home, me and Asiel looked at each other, and began running home. "Can you believe it? SAO is finally out! How long have we waited?" I yelled over my shoulder as we raced closer to home. "I dont know, but when we get in game, meet up at the first small town, K?"

"Got it, cya nerd!" I yelled as I made a right turn into my house.

When I got home, I quickly put my things away and ran upstairs to my room. I passed my little brother on the way, but we didn't say anything to each other. My little brother wasn't much of a gamer, he always took everything seriously and didn't like to make small talk. Asiel's younger brother, Troy, would also be playing SAO with us today. Though he wasn't much of a gamer so I'm not sure if he would be able to keep up with Asiel, Jayson and I. I sighed as I entered my room and changed out of my school uniform into something more comfortable. Well, the times here. Lets do this. I put on my Nerve Gear, selected SAO from a list of downloaded games, and spoke the words "Link Start!"


	2. Chapter 1

_I could hear my steady breathing, and the beating of my heart. Where was I? What was I doing? _Memories hit me like a truck as realization hit me. I tried to open my eyes but the blinding light forced them shut again. I raised my hand to block some of the light as I opened my eyes slightly. Here I was. Sword Art Online's starting town, the Town of Beginnings. As I looked around me I noticed there wasn't many people, only around a hundred. That's to be expected though, the games been out for quite a few hours now, and everyone was most likely out training in the fields.

A shiver ran down my spine as I took in the excitement of it all. I was finally here. I was no longer myself, but instead I was Kamatayon, the warrior, the thief. or the tank. Or whoever I wanted to be. This was a whole different world, where I could be whatever I wanted to be. As I made my way out of the Town of Beginnings and into the fields around, I noticed a lot of people training on the starting mobs. Even though I figured I was probably too good for these monsters (added "monsters" to specify what "these" are), it can't hurt to get some practice in before tackling the harder mobs of Floor 1.

So... It suddenly hit me that I actually had no idea how to use sword skills. Wasn't there a guide or something like that? I went through my skills page and the only weapon I currently had was the starting long sword. I selected a few of the abilities for one handed swords and looked at them. The only one I had unlocked now was the basic level one move: "Slice". I drew my sword and slashed down diagonally. Nothing happened. How is this supposed to work? I looked around and found someone who had just finished off a boar. I could ask them for help I guess... Nah, I was too proud for that. If all these beginners could figure it out, it can't be that hard, right? I raised my sword in an over-head position, ready to swing it down diagonally. I took a deep breath and felt my arm start to power up. As I begun to move the blade down, it moved faster than I would have thought possible, leaving an orange-ish glow behind where it had sliced just seconds ago. So that's how it's done, eh? I grinned to myself for being able to figure it out on my own. Well, time for my first enemy. A boar spawned not too far ahead of me, off to my left. "Time to get this started," I said to myself as I put my sword in an attack position and ran towards the boar. I sliced it from behind, using the only sword skill I knew. "Slice" Dropped its health by around 20%, not bad. The boar was angry now, as it quickly turned around and ran at me for a counter attack. I put my sword in front of me to parry its tusks, but it still moved me backwards draining my health minimally. I threw the boar backwards, going for another "Slice" but this time leaping back as my skill finished. When it charged me this time I was able to hit it again before dodging its assault. The boar only had a little fewer than 40% health left, and I finished it with two swipes of my "Slice" skill. The victory screen popped up telling me that I earned a little bit of exp., along with a small amount of col and no items. Not surprising that I get a weak reward from killing a monster that there is so many of, and that's also easy to kill. I proceed on killing a few more of the weak boars until I got bored of it. Now that I had mastered my single skill, it was time for something a bit more challenging. As I climbed over the hill, I couldn't help but notice how _beautiful _this all looked. The view was so amazing and life-like. As I reached the top and looked down into the valley below, I heard a noise and looked up to see a flashing red thing in the sky. It read "System Warning" and, suddenly, I was covered by blue light and teleported back to the Town of Beginnings. What's going on? A force teleport? A part of the opening event perhaps? It looked as if all ten thousand players had been gathered here. Many people were looking around in confusion, some in fear. I was supposed to meet up with Asiel, Jayson, Troy, Mahlik and some other friends from outside of school in the first small town but.. It looks like they might be here. If only I knew what their avatars looked like, I would be able to find them.

A giant hooded figure stood before me. Looks like a GM or something. "Welcome to my world, players. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the one and only person who can control this world. I'm sure that you've all already noticed that the log out button from the main menu has been removed. However, this is by no means a mistake. I repeat... It is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online. You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove the Nerve Gear or interrupt its operation. Should it be attempted, a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the Nerve Gear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life. Unfortunately, it's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the Nerve Gear. As proof of this, 213 players have retired from both this world and the real one. As you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide. Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game. But, I'd like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment...The Nerve Gear will also destroy your brain. There is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game. You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared. And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storage's. Take a look." As I tried to piece together everything this hooded figure just told me, I unconsciously opened my inventory and looked to find a new item. It was... a Mirror? Blue light suddenly surrounded me and all the players near me. Once the light faded, he heard a lot of commotion around him. He looked into the mirror, but didn't quite understand what was happening. This is... Me… From the real world. How is that possible..? Kayaba began speaking again "Right now, you're probably all wondering, why? Why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the Nerve Gear, do such a thing? I have already achieved my goal. I created the world of Sword Art Online solely for my personal enjoyment. And now, the preparations are complete. That concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." With these words, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of this world, left us all in a stunned silence. A lot of thoughts were running through my head. This was the real world now. As everyone panicked around me, I couldn't help but notice. I felt no fear. No sadness or sorrow came over me. I was actually.. Happy. This game, this world, where I could become whatever I wanted, was real life now. The city center became hectic, so I began to run out of there. Back to the fields to train, I guess, becoming stronger is probably the only way to survive. As I ran, something grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. "Hu?" I said, turning. There stood Asiel. "Found you.. We need to have a talk with some of the others." Asiel said. He led me down an alley away from the other ten thousand players. There stood all of my friends. "You guys found each other?" I asked? "Yea, we met up as soon as we got in. Thanks for leaving us, jerk," said his friend Ash. She was around 5'4, light skinned with long brown hair and a pretty face. Troy was crying in the corner, comforted by Kody, the only other person he knew in game. "Thanks Kody," Asiel said as he walked over to Troy. "Kody?" Koy responded. "Who's Kody? I'm Koy now." "Ah," I sighed, realizing my mistake. We were in game now, we should probably call each other by our in game names. "So, what's everyone's "name" now?" Asiel was the first to respond, "Just call me Tahu, the best!" "Yea, right," said Jayson, speaking for the first time. "I guess I'm Inazuma now?" said Jayson. "Still Ash here," said Ash, giving a small smirk. Of course she hadn't changed her name. That was just like her. Mahlik, who'd been leaning against a wall till now stood up and said, "Name's Riku. Nice to meet you!" with a smile on his face... Idiot. I already knew who he was but... oh well. Troy, who looked as if he'd relaxed quite a bit spoke up, "And I'm Raizen." Well now that we were all here... we should probably come up with a plan. "Oh yea, and I'm Kamatayon" I said, almost forgetting I hadn't yet told them my "name". Raizen spoke up again, "I think we should just wait around for a while, see what happens, you know?" "Not a chance" I quickly responded. "Didn't you know? Tomorrow is the only thing that will come if we sit around and don't do anything. Everything else in life has to be worked for, and if we ever plan on getting out of this game, we're going to have to work for it. Agreed?" I argued and looked around to see everyone nodding their heads. "Agreed," said Ash as she jumped up. "Well, let's get to it!" We all nodded our approval as we headed off back into the fields, this time with death being a much more serious threat in our minds.


End file.
